Presently, when looking for personal or business information, a variety of different approaches can be used, most being centered on the use of a telephone. The first step in most approaches involves locating personal or business information by browsing through printed materials (i.e., phone books, newspapers, and direct marketing materials), consulting electronic resources (i.e., the Internet, computer-based contact lists stored in personal digital assistants (PDAs) or cell phones, etc.), or recalling the contact information from memory. The sources consulted to obtain the business or personal information will vary significantly based on the location of the user. For example, if users are traveling and are away from their office or place of residence, contact information stored in a personal information manager (PIM) or on a cell phone will commonly be used, while physical or computer-based lists will be more commonly used when users are at home or at the office. Once an individual has located the information, a telephone is used to connect with the personal or business contact.
In many parts of the world, the telephone is the most pervasive and ubiquitous means to find businesses and services for a consumer, and is often the expected means of contact with many businesses. Although the primary usage mode of telephony has remained largely the same since its inception, recent technological advances have begun to broaden the possible applications of the telephone. Such advances include the introduction of digital mobile services (i.e., contact lists, messaging (short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), presence technology (instant messaging and presence service (IMPS) and internet access (wireless application protocol (WAP) or extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML)), voice over Internet protocols (i.e., session initiation protocol (SIP) and IMPS), and voice portals using automated voice recognition (AVR) protocols and text-to-speech (TTS) protocols to provide automated access to data using voice commands. With the advent of automated interactive voice recognition (IVR) and TTS technology, automated voice portals are becoming more commonplace, especially as interfaces for directory assistance systems and help lines.
Through these telephonic technological advances, contact list maintenance and ownership has been rapidly evolving. Presently, contact lists and IMPS are the current evolution of how people manage their phone numbers, addresses, etc. In many respects, this forms the central activity in phone management, just as the address book on a personal computer is a central aspect of email. The contact interface, on both the mobile telephony networks and personal computers, is actively evolving into IMPS.
IMPS can be seen as a “real-time” and “meta-organized” contact list. A presence-enabled system tells each user the current real-time status of other users of interest, based on the permissions set by those other users. In the internet world, presence has been available on instant messaging systems (such as AOL messenger or MSN messenger) for some time. In the mobile telephony world, presence will allow not only for availability, but also indicators such as: phone is on/off, user status (available, unavailable, in a meeting, traveling, etc.), location, device capabilities (voice only, text, multimedia, browser, etc.), personal status (happy, sad, angry, etc.), hobbies (soccer, dancing, etc.), and any other attribute that is defined by the service provider. These types of status can be displayed within the contact list. Of course, “instant messaging” is enabled based upon these user settings.
Meta-organization is provided through groups of presences (setup either by the user, by the service provider, or a third party), through “group chat” and through shared content, which can be made available to other users and/or groups. Presence and interest “channels” can be filled by content providers based on opt-in permissions guided by each user. In the example above, if “soccer” was an area of interest for a given user, and that user had opened permissions for third parties to populate their “soccer” channel, then any interested third party could submit entries into that channel. Presence servers can accept “plug-ins” from other vendors, extending the functionality and applicability.
However, these technological advances still have not simplified the process of locating personal and business contact information, and connecting the user with the person or business of interest. Moreover, the use of presence technology and IMPS is quite limited because of various factors, which include, but are not limited to, device type and configuration, and therefore, cannot be used very easily, ubiquitously or universally. These technologies can also still not be reliably used to obtain current information on retailers and businesses.
Consequently, the need has arisen for a system providing for a single point of contact that can connect customers to personal or business contacts and contact lists in an efficient, organized and personalized manner, and provide current information in a timely and localized fashion.